Lunch With the Ducks

  

  Today was quite fun. We got all dressed up with the intent on taking family pictures. However kids were hungry and we didn't have much time before Ben had to go to work so we decided to get lunch at Arbys and eat at Nature Park. 

As soon as we got out of the car a huge flock of ducks and a few geese got out of the water and pretty much charged us. They were not afraid of us at all and followed us to the picnic tables. We were completely surrounded.  At the table we were greeted by a very friendly squirrel who sat herself on the bench next to us waitng for some food. She was really cute and Katelyn loved feeding her, although I hope she doesn't get heartburn or anything from them curly fries lol. While eating the ducks had settled themselves down all around us till all of sudden they all at once got up and started running every which way. At first we were a little confused about the sudden up roar till we saw two dogs in duck heaven. It was really fun to watch.

After lunch we let the girls check out the ducks more. Jenna was so interested in the ducks that she had not realized that Ben had let go of her and she stood for about a minute all by herself. It was amazing to see several types of ducks there. After a few minutes of admiring Katelyn told Ben that she wanted to pet one so Ben told her to go ahead but she would have to catch one first. The chase was on. Ben and I were having a good laugh watching her and hearing her say "I'll catch the green one for you daddy" That poor duck was panting so we ended the chase and went home. Great family time :o)

Quote From Relief Society Lesson

" Earth is crammed with heaven 

       and every bush is aflame with God,

        only those who see take off their shoes, 

       the rest sit around and pick blackberries."

              - Emerson

Boo at the Zoo

So this year was the first time we have gone to Boo at the Zoo. I was hoping to go with my girls and my nephews but their mommy had their new baby sister so my family came with us instead. Katelyn was excited to go with her Uncle Samuel and Aunt Daisy. It was a little cold but we bundled up pretty toasty and were just fine. Katelyn really enjoyed it because the whole zoo was decorated with Halloween decor and the animal habitats had decorations in them too. Some costumes frightened and made Katelyn feel uneasy but she really liked the penguin, puppy and kitten. I defiantly plan on going again next year.

Jenna vs A Dishwasher

So Sunday we went to a friends house for dinner. We were all seated down enjoying our delicious  dinner when we heard a loud crash. We all turned and found Jenna pinned between the floor and the dishwasher door. Its an older dishwasher that needs to be locked so it can't be opened. Well Jenna was using it to pull herself up which ended up pulling the door down. Poor little girl has two cuts on her forehead and two cuts on her eye. It must have really thrown her off 'cause the whole rest of the night she kept falling over and bonking her head.  She seems just fine today. 

Forgot I had this Blog

  Well I guess I should be a little better at keeping up with this blog. I got so into Facebook that I forgot I even had a blog.  

Well to kinda fill you in on where an what my family has been up to. Ben is still in school, however he took the Fall semester off to "spend more time with the family" I think he secretly meant his hunting family.  Yes, tis the season of Elk and Deer and whatever other animal is in season. At this point he hasn't harvested an animal yet BUT this season is not yet over. Well I take that back he hasn't harvested a big game animal however he has brought home some kinda bird and a pheasant. Mmmm.... so good. He is still working at Melalueca 

Katelyn is now 3 and is growing up so fast. I can't believe she will be In Sunbeams come this January. She is quit the smart little gal and still has an attitude which I have been told comes with the age. She has become quit fond of her little sister Jenna and enjoys making her laugh. At the moment she is absolutely loving the time she has to play with her cousin Alden while he is here.

Jenna, what a cutie. She can make you smile everyday. She still has them big blue eyes and has become quit the get a rounder. She is very skilled at crawling and walking around furniture. She has three teeth on the bottom and likes to bite you if she gets the chance. One more month and she'll be one, wow... where did the time go?

As for myself I'm still at stay at home mommy. However I do have plans to start school in Feb to get my Bachelors degree online. It will be very nice to be able to finally start school but get to still be with my kids. I have taken a great liking to cooking and live to find and try out new recipes. Plus I enjoy teaching Katelyn how to cook as well. 

 Well I think that pretty much us in a nut shell. I'll try to do my best to keep this blog updated.

 

A Few Pictures From Sunday

Jenna all ready for church hanging out on the floor.

Katelyn always crashes after church. Nursery must take it out of her.

I was eating a cookie and Jenna stole it out of my hand and went to town on it.

Our Saturday at the Zoo

So on Saturday since it was a nice beautiful day and Ben once again was working on a boat motor I decided to take my girls to the zoo. We went with my brother Josh, his wife and daughter also my mom and younger siblings. Katelyn loved it. She was afraid to go into the monkey exhibit but her Aunt Elizabeth held her and she was able to make it through.

Jenna just sat in the stroller the whole time and only fussed when she was letting me know it was way past her lunch time. The zoo has added a few new animals to it since the last time I have been there but unfortunately they either were in hibernation or haven't arrived at the zoo yet. We'll get to see them in June though when we go for the Melaleuca zoo day (one of my favorite parts about Ben working at Melaleuca)


I thought this was quit interesting, there is a big rock formation that has a waterfall running down it into a pond for the penguins. Well up on top of the waterfall was this goose, at first I thought it was fake but then it moved. I thought it was kinda cool looking , it must of been basking in the sun.

Mother's Day Bird Houses

For Mothers Day Katelyn and I painted bird houses for the grandma's. In a round about way it was Katelyn's idea. We were at Walmart in the craft section when I asked Katelyn what we should give her grandma's for mothers day, on the shelf was a bunch of unpainted bird houses and she said she wanted to give them a house. So I asked her if we should paint them and of coarse she said yes. So Katelyn picked out the paint, the bird and the butterfly that was to make up the bird houses. She had lots of fun painting and we only hope the grandma's liked them.

Lets Play Catch Up.

So I know I haven't posted for a long time but I have been pretty occupied which to me is a very good excuse. Lets see well I guess we'll start with Easter. I took Katelyn and Jenna to my parents house for an Easter Egg Hunt. Katelyn at first didn't quit get the idea that she was to find the eggs and put them in her basket but with the help of her loving aunt Rachel she quickly caught on. She also was able to paint eggs, well lets just say she had great fun telling Grandma which colors she wanted her egg in, and if you took a look at Grandma's face she didn't mind one bit.

Katelyn has had the opportunity to play with her dear sweet cousin Alden through out the month of April. She loves Alden very much and you would quit often hear Katelyn and Alden refer to each other as their best friend. So cute. It didn't take long though before they got nick named the trouble makers and boy did they have fun getting into trouble. They were found jumping on grandma's bed, stealing grandma's candy bars, sneaking off downstairs (luckly to be found reading books together), and who knows what else those two have done that hasn't been deiscovered. Good thing they're pretty darn cute :o) Katelyn already misses playing with Alden and looks forward to the next time she'll get to see him again.

Jenna has been growing and getting chubbier by the day, her cheeks are my favorite. I was looking at Katelyn's baby pictures the other day and realized that Jenna looks so much like her sister, its amazing. Jenna has also been introduced to baby cereal, veggies and fruits. She loves them and is the type of baby that lets you know if your not spooning her food to her fast enough. She hasn't rolled over yet but is so close if she could just get her one arm out of the way she's be there. She also can sit somewhat for about 15 sec or so before so falls forward or backward, don't worry someone is always there to catch her. Jenna also LOVES baths. I put a few inches of water in the bath tub and let her have at it, never thought it could be, but she has accomplished to get me pretty wet at times with her splashing. I love it.

Katelyn is also growing and has developed quit the attitude. People tell me its just her age but I could easily see it as Katelyn all the way. Her vocab never ceases to amaze me and she has become very fond over her daddy lately. He will try to leave for work and she will run and hug his legs begging him not to go, then when he does leave she runs to her bed and cries, its one of those "awe" moments. Katelyn has reached a new leaf in her life and is being potty trained. So far she hasn't been to bad and today she tried to go potty all by herself without telling me. At this time though life has been somewhat crazy for her because she ended up with pink eye and an ear infection. But she is feeling much better and mom still has at least half a head of hair left :o) Our little girl is growing up so fast and I love her to pieces.

Ben is in his 3rd semester off school and is doing quit well. I am very proud of his hard work. On top of school and work Ben has spent many long hours trying to fix his truck, it has been quit an adventure for him but like everything else it will come to an end and when it does he either will have a truck that runs or one that refuses to live any longer and is tired of hinting to Ben to just let it die. LOL As for myself I have been trying to keep up with this crazy life. My parenting skills and patience have been tested to the max and I think I'm coming out ok, I'm alive at least. I once read that as a mother you need to live in the moment, no matter how hectic it is. I can tell you that many times the thought has crossed my mind how wonderful it will be when this is all over with, but as I sit and think about it when my kids are all grown up and moved away I know I'm gonna miss it. So here I am living in the moment. :o)

Pictures From the Park

Katelyn playing monkey

Jenna asleep in the stroller

Trying out the swing

Giving the tree a hug

Jenna's smile after the park

St. Patricks Day

I love holidays and even though Katelyn isn't aware of them so much I try to make the day fun for her. The first thing we did for St. Patricks day is make green jello for lunch, I pretty much let Katelyn do it all except handle the hot water. Katelyn and Ben ate the whole bowl of jello and didn't leave any for mommy, oh well :o)


After lunch Katelyn played a matching shamrock game to try and win a prize. She's pretty good at memory games so it didn't take her long, her prize was a bag of skittles, gotta taste the rainbow :o) We then put together a leprechaun puppet. As you can see half of it is black and the other half is green, I couldn't get Katelyn to use a green crayon but she was nice enough to let me help color. When we were done I showed her how to work the puppet but she couldn't figure it out. Katelyn also decorated a hat with shamrocks she loves stickers and she was pretty excited to do so.

Jenna still sleeps a lot so she didn't do much with us but here she is showing of her new shirt. I know you can't read it but it says mommy's lucky charm.

In the future when our kids are old enough to understand the holiday I would like to start a tradition where I hide a pot of those chocolate coins and whoever finds it gets it. I think it will be fun. I would like to do what my parents did with us a few times when I was younger. We used to go to Palisades Dam and look at some green water which we called leprechaun water, and try to see if we could find a leprechaun after awhile of seeing nothing and saying maybe next year we would have a picnic and play games. We only did it a few times but it was fun enough for me to remember. But I have talked to my dad about it and he said where we used to go is blocked off so maybe I'll have to try and find some different leprechaun water for my kids.

A Toddlers Bad Dream Turned Into Real Life.

So if you read the blog before this you would have read about Katelyn's bad dream about a worm that hates her and was going to eat her. Well this is kinda creepy and so weird. She had that dream or at least told me about the worm two nights in a row., this morning when I changed her diaper there believe it or not was a 12 in round worm sitting there. Scared the living day lights out of me and I couldn't stop shaking till Ben got home from school. I called her doctor and they had me come in. The doc said there was nothing to worry about and that this happens quit often with kids usually in the summer though not in the winter, plus he said that a little boy had been in a couple of days ago with the same thing (not like that was going to make me feel better). So she is on some medication that will clean her out and I'm hoping like no other there isn't any more worms because I'm the one who changes the diapers and it gives me the willies. The doc didn't seem concerned at all and said she would be just fine. But the big kicker here that gives me chills is just the dreams or whatever Katelyn was having and then to have it actually be real. Who would have thought.

A Toddlers Bad Dream

I know the time change hasn't been the greatest for some people but it has worked wonders for me. Since the time changed Katelyn has stopped taking naps which makes her pretty tired when 8:00m comes around, so I just put her to bed and there she stays for the rest of the night. It's pretty nice because Jenna will then go to bed around 9:30pm and that gives me some time to myself. Well anyway last night Katelyn fell asleep at 6:30 and I was trying to debate whether to wake her or let her sleep for a few minutes. Well I let her sleep till 7 and got her pj's on and put on Tinkerbell for her. She watched the movie for about 20 min and then was right back to sleep so I thought it would be safe to put her to bed and be done for the night. I was wrong at 9:30 she comes running out of her room and the conversation went like this...

Katelyn: Mommy I saw a worm
Mommy: You saw a worm?
Katelyn: Yes, the worm hates me
Mommy: The worm hates you? Why?
Katelyn: The worm just hates me.
Mommy: Ok, well lets go back to bed
Katelyn: Please no the worm will eat me, it hates me.

No matter what I did I could not get her to go back to bed because of a worm she dreamed about. It was kinda funny but she didn't get to bed till after 11:00 when daddy reassured her that he would beat up the worm if it tried to hurt her.

This isn't the first time that she has woke up in the night and tells me that something hates her and is going to eat her. She has also told me that a monster is in her room and is going to get her. She also talks in her sleep a lot to. Its funny but since I'm a light sleeper I wake up every time. LOL

Homework

When Ben first started school he wasn't able to spend a lot of time with Katelyn like he used to. I never thought it would matter to Katelyn because she is young but I was wrong, she was constantly asking daddy to play with her and when Ben would tell her he couldn't because he had homework her head and shoulders would drop and she would walk away very sad. So I came up with an idea, I took Katelyn to the store and we found a preschool work book called Everything For Early Learning and I let Katelyn pick out a crayon box, kid safety scissors, glue and some crayons. We came home and Ben let her show him all her new stuff. Then when Ben would sit down to do his homework Katelyn would sit down at the table with him and do a few of the pages out of her book, which she would call her homework. It is a nice way for her to still spend time with with her daddy even though he is busy and Ben will stop and comment on how well she is doing. Now she will come and ask me if she can do her homework anytime through out the day whether Ben is doing his or not.

I don't know how much she is learning from it but I have noticed that she is kinda a perfectionist. She will be coloring and all of a sudden you see her throw her crayon and say that she can't do it. When you ask her what she can't do she;ll say she can't color, what we have figured out is that she does not like to color outside the lines. Its OK if she does it a little bit but most of the coloring has to be in the lines. I don't know if this is a normal thing for two year old or if this is just part of Katelyn personality. Here is a sample of her coloring I think it pretty good for a two year old but then I haven't really seen how two year old normal color. I'm not trying to brag or anything I just think its cute.

Big Sister

When we had Jenna I wasn't quit sure how Katelyn was going to react. Katelyn didn't want much to do with Jenna. We couldn't even get Katelyn to touch her, I think she was a little afraid, but Katelyn was very protective of Jenna and would yell at the nurses if they did anything with her. Well now it has been almost 3 months and Katelyn has had I guess a change of heart and has been quit the big sister.

The other day I was getting a bottle ready for Jenna and Katelyn told me that she wanted to feed her, so I had her sit on the chair and I gave her Jenna and the bottle and she knew exactly what to do. After Jenna had a few swallows Katelyn puts down the bottle and tries to sit Jenna up I asked her what she was doing and she said she needed to burp Jenna. It was really cute and after about a minute she would informed me that it was my turn and she went off to play but she feeds Jenna at least once a day now. Oh and while she is sitting there feeding Jenna she likes to tell me that Jenna is her sister and that she loves her very much, melts my heart every time.

Also one day I told Katelyn I needed to change Jenna's diaper so she told me "just a sec" and ran off to her room. She came out with a diaper and told me that she would change her diaper, so I let her take Jenna's diaper off and wipe her bum but I had to put the new diaper on 'cause Katelyn couldn't quit figure it out. Pretty darn cute.

Katelyn also likes to tell me that she loves being a big sister. I hoping in the future my girls will be best friends.

The Things My Two Year Old Says...

Katelyn amazes me everyday with her vocabulary use. She says things I have no idea where she got it from but she'll say it with great feeling you just can't help but laugh. So I decided to list Katelyn's little phrases word for word and I will probably add to it every time I hear a new one.

"Its my life leave lone me"(says all the time)
"My gracious my hair I need to brush it" (said after looking in a mirror)
"No problem" ( said when I thanked her for helping Jenna)
"Oh sure, sure, sure"(says all the time)
"Whats going on here?"(said when we took her out of nursery to visit our Sunbeam class)
"I'M BACK" (Yelled when we took her back to the nursery)
"Get out of here I take a nap me"(said when I went in her room to get a diaper for Jenna)
"Oh cute, thank you so much" (said whenever you give her something)
"I'm Katelyn" (said to anyone that talks to her several times or she'll just randomly say it as she walks around the house)
"I hate you mommy" (said when I told her just a minute)
"I hate you daddy" (said when daddy was teasing her on the potty)
"No, please no" (said whenever she doesn't want you to do something)
"No thanks I'd rather not"
I can't think of any more at the moment but with Katelyn I'm sure there will be more.

Our Valentines Day

I had started the day off by going to the gym up at the school with a friend. When I got home I set out the girls Valentine gifts and waited for them to wake up. I didn't have to wait to long before Katelyn came wondering out of her room. We opened her gift and she was very excited to find a Valentine shirt, a heart pillow, a toy puppy named Pixie and a small box of chocolates (which she quickly ate, good thing there was only four pieces :0)) Jenna then woke up and Katelyn opened her gift for her and showed her what she got, which was a Valentine shirt and a monkey rattle. Yesterday Katelyn had made a Valentine card for daddy and we had gotten him a small box of chocolates too so we decided to go wake daddy up and give it to him. Ben was so tired he had a hard time opening his eyes so we left him alone. While we waited for daddy to finally get up which was around 10am Katelyn and I did some Valentine crafts. First we decorated our hats with hearts as you can see in our picture, (Katelyn is cross eyed because she was trying to look up at her hat) and then we put together a heart lady bug, Katelyn glued it together and I colored.

Later on in the afternoon I planned on taking the girls grocery shopping with me while daddy did his on errands. We went over to my parents and dropped of some Valentine goodies for the kids and then went to my aunts to drop of some pictures. My aunt wanted to watch Jenna so my grocery shopping would be a little easier so I let her. Katelyn and I went out to lunch and then got our groceries. It is quit the adventure trying to shop with a 2 year old that doesn't want to sit in the cart and wants to put everyting in the cart. When we were all done we picked up Jenna and went home. I wasn't home for very long before Ben told me I had to leave and get dinner so he and Katelyn could set up his surprise. So I went and got a happy meal from Wendy's for Katelyn and then nachos from Bajio.

When I walked into the house the lights were off and there were several tea candles lit and scattered everywhere and there were roses on the table. Now if you know Ben he doesn't do flowers so I was quit surprised. Katelyn was really excited and yelled out "Surprise mommy". I tell you there is nothing like having a candlelit dinner with a 2 year old, it was fun and really cute. Ben had bought three different movies which were Robin Hood Men in Tights, Sleepless in Seattle and Series of Unfortunate Events. We let Katelyn pick the movie and of coarse she picked the fun looking one, Series of Unfortunate Events, she fell asleep with in the first 5 mins and Jenna was already asleep so Ben and I finished the movie together. I loved spending Valentines with my family and this one will be one I will always remember.

Playing With Daddy

Ben has a pretty busy schedule he has classes from 9am to 12pm and then he tries to do his homework till he has to go to work at 3pm and by the time he comes home at 11:30pm Katelyn is already in bed. So whenever she gets the chance to play with daddy she takes full advantage of it. Katelyn and her daddy like to play a game where daddy hides and Katelyn comes and finds him, when she does find him (which can take quit some time to do so) he runs after her to tickle her, Katelyn LOVES it. Daddy is pretty creative on where to hide, the other day he decided to empty out the bottom cupboard and try to fit inside of it ( I should have taken a picture). Well he was a little to big so Katelyn thought it would be fun to give it a try. She loved it so much that it took awhile to get her out of the cupboard to eat her lunch. It's always fun to watch them play together.

Lucky Nap Time.

So the last couple of weeks I have considered myself pretty lucky when it comes to nap time. Katelyn has taken to putting herself down for a nap. She will eat her lunch and then just sit there staring off into space. So I'll ask her if she is tired and she'll reply "Yes, I need to take a nap". I'll then get her down from the table and she will go around collecting the stuff animals that she wants to sleep with, (a pink sheep, blue cow, black Wells Fargo horse and a white teddy bear). She then will tell me that she needs to put sheep (or one of the other animals) to sleep so she'll see me in awhile and off to bed she goes. Now while she's in there if I go in her room to get a diaper or something else for Jenna, Katelyn will tell me "GET OUT OF HERE I'M TAKING A NAP" Its quit funny to me but I sure enjoy the peace and quiet when Katelyn takes a nap.

Jenna's Blessing

February 1st 2009 we blessed our little Jenna. It was a wonderful day and a little crazy one for some of my family members. Jenna was able to have both her grandpa's and her Uncle's Josh and Isaac stand in the circle while her daddy blessed her. Ben gave her a beautiful blessing and he was all smiles, he loves being a daddy. I was able to have my sweet Grandpa Dye come from Utah to see the blessing. I don't get to see him very often so I felt pretty special to have him there.

However my family had an interesting time getting to the church. Their van broke down so my dad had to catch a ride with my Uncle Ted so he could get there in time, my mom and siblings ended up having to catch a ride with someone else. Unfortunately they missed the blessing.

Afterwards Ben and I needed to teach our Sunbeams and then we had an interview with the bishop after church so we didn't have a family get together but it would have been fun. All in all it was a wonderful day for our little girl.

Meet the Brunson's

Ben and I were married June 12th 2004. January 1st 2005 we had a beautiful baby boy who was born 3 months early, he lived but for a short time. We named him Tyler Benjamin and we are very grateful to have had him born to us and to have him part of our family. September 23rd 2006 we were blessed with our daughter Katelyn Dawn. She is now two and is quit the character. She is always full of energy and you never know what cute and funny phrases are going to come from her. She loves her family very much and is always excited to see them. November 28th 2008 we again were blessed with another little girl whom we named Jenna Brooke. She is 2 months now and is really growing. She loves to smile whenever someone is talking to her and she is starting to coo and make all sorts of noises.
Ben currently is going to school and is studying to be a mechanical engineer. He is doing very well so far and is loving his engineer classes. He has been working at Melaleuca for almost 5 years in maintenance. He loves fixing things and being busy. He still is a big time hunter and because of that has gotten himself a bird dog. Our dog is a German Short-hair named Copper who is currently at Ben's parents because we simple just don't have the room for him.
I am a stay at home mom and which I love. It is quit rewarding to be with your children all the time and to see them grow and develop. I love doing crafts and going for walks.
Ben and I teach the Sunbeams in our ward which is quit fun but can also be very stressful. We love our kids and look forward to seeing them every Sunday.
Well that is us in a nut shell, hope you will read our blogs and get to know us a little bit more each time.